We've wined, we've waited, now it's time to celebrate 2016

[rhombusbombus]

@Effloresce My roommate is similar. She'll cook large meals (that don't even look appetizing) and leave dirty spatulas and food remnants on the counter for days. If it's on the side where my dishes are, then I move it to her counter and leave it. I think we're at the point in our lives where you should KNOW to clean up after yourself, especially when you live with someone else.

I'll be so ready when this lease is up. I'm sure I'll like her more when I don't live with her.

 

You should mention it to her. The worse that happens is she doesn't change, but at least you made her aware of your concerns.

[Effloresce]

thanks @rhombusbombus and @sjoh197!

i think i'm too nice, but i really need to stop being that way...dishes from like three days ago of hers were still in the sink last night, and I didn't wash them..i just washed around them. i really don't want to be mean, but yeah I'm no one's mom and shouldn't have to be dealing with this.

[sjoh197]

44 minutes ago, Effloresce said:

thanks @rhombusbombus and @sjoh197!

i think i'm too nice, but i really need to stop being that way...dishes from like three days ago of hers were still in the sink last night, and I didn't wash them..i just washed around them. i really don't want to be mean, but yeah I'm no one's mom and shouldn't have to be dealing with this.

This is why when people ask me... to live alone or with a roomate? I always say live alone if you can afford it. The money you save isn't worth your sanity.

The best option is obviously to find a hunky engineer lover like I did and move in with them, but I guess not everybody gets those kind of options. Lol. 

[MarineBluePsy]

1 hour ago, Effloresce said:

thanks @rhombusbombus and @sjoh197!

i think i'm too nice, but i really need to stop being that way...dishes from like three days ago of hers were still in the sink last night, and I didn't wash them..i just washed around them. i really don't want to be mean, but yeah I'm no one's mom and shouldn't have to be dealing with this.

So if you just let the dishes sit there does this chick not get that would lead to roaches, flies, and other nasty things in the house?  I agree you need to be loud and clear with her here.  If she's just a natural slob then you 2 need to split the cost of a housekeeper or you need to move.  I don't see how you've put up with this as long as you have.  

And driving her to and from campus on top of that?  Next time you're ready to leave get in your car and lock the doors.  When she arrives crack the window and tell her she needs to chip in for gas or you're leaving without her.  What is it the hippies used to say?  Cash, grass, or ass.... no free rides.  Or something like that.  

[Effloresce]

1 hour ago, MarineBluePsy said:

So if you just let the dishes sit there does this chick not get that would lead to roaches, flies, and other nasty things in the house?  I agree you need to be loud and clear with her here.  If she's just a natural slob then you 2 need to split the cost of a housekeeper or you need to move.  I don't see how you've put up with this as long as you have.  

And driving her to and from campus on top of that?  Next time you're ready to leave get in your car and lock the doors.  When she arrives crack the window and tell her she needs to chip in for gas or you're leaving without her.  What is it the hippies used to say?  Cash, grass, or ass.... no free rides.  Or something like that.  

it just blows my mind that she hasn't offered anything at all.

also, boxes of her stuff are STILL unpacked in the living room/dining room. haven't budged since we've gotten here..

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

3 hours ago, sjoh197 said:

This is why when people ask me... to live alone or with a roomate? I always say live alone if you can afford it. The money you save isn't worth your sanity.

YES. This! I'm paying twice as much as I would with a roommate, but I get to come home and just... be.

[sjoh197]

2 hours ago, MarineBluePsy said:

So if you just let the dishes sit there does this chick not get that would lead to roaches, flies, and other nasty things in the house?  I agree you need to be loud and clear with her here.  If she's just a natural slob then you 2 need to split the cost of a housekeeper or you need to move.  I don't see how you've put up with this as long as you have.  

And driving her to and from campus on top of that?  Next time you're ready to leave get in your car and lock the doors.  When she arrives crack the window and tell her she needs to chip in for gas or you're leaving without her.  What is it the hippies used to say?  Cash, grass, or ass.... no free rides.  Or something like that.  

Gas, grass, or ass... But pretty much the same thing.

[nevermind]

On 8/22/2016 at 5:38 AM, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

Well... start of the semester means staying late, staying late means no evening jogs which means... now I have to run in the morning!

Did it for the first time this morning, and let me tell ya... it's gonna be a long 6-10 years!

I'm seeing this post late, but I was running about 9 - 12 miles when I lived in Ithaca. It does suck getting up in the mornings, but my general route was around campus (going up through Cayuga Heights > back to campus > around campus > botanical gardens). I don't generally love running, but I really enjoyed it when I was there--just due to a lot of varying landscapes. Sometimes, losing the motivation, I'd just run 2 miles down the hill and go to Sweet Melissa's and then take the bus back to campus.  

Edited September 9, 2016 by nevermind

[janetjanejune]

@Effloresce You need to nip this in the bud now. She is wrong on so many levels.

This is why I laid out my rules and lifestyle to my roommates via email. No clue if it will work, but least I tried.

[MarineBluePsy]

22 hours ago, Effloresce said:

it just blows my mind that she hasn't offered anything at all.

also, boxes of her stuff are STILL unpacked in the living room/dining room. haven't budged since we've gotten here..

Some people aren't taught those kinds of manners, so you need to be clear that it costs money to operate your vehicle.  It doesn't matter if you're both going to the same place.  The weight of her body puts wear on the axles and affects the gas mileage or something.  As for her unpacked boxes?  Shove them in her room!

20 hours ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

YES. This! I'm paying twice as much as I would with a roommate, but I get to come home and just... be.

Me too.  Right now I'm sitting in my undies with my feet up totally procrastinating on all of my own unpacked boxes and furniture that needs to be put together.  Guess who's complaining?  Not one damn person lol.

[Effloresce]

1 hour ago, MarineBluePsy said:

Some people aren't taught those kinds of manners, so you need to be clear that it costs money to operate your vehicle.  It doesn't matter if you're both going to the same place.  The weight of her body puts wear on the axles and affects the gas mileage or something.  As for her unpacked boxes?  Shove them in her room!

Me too.  Right now I'm sitting in my undies with my feet up totally procrastinating on all of my own unpacked boxes and furniture that needs to be put together.  Guess who's complaining?  Not one damn person lol.

yeah, idk. she seems so considerate in other regards, but in this regard it's like..what? i don't know.

i'm already formulating my leaving statement when the lease needs to be resigned next year. i hate moving and am already dreading having to pack my shit, but i can't do this for more than a year. 

[hippyscientist]

Random question for you all (well, not ThAT random seeing as we're on a grad school forum but...anyway): have any of you already got your first paper/preliminary data to lead into the first paper planned out? I started 3 weeks ago and me and my advisor have decided on 3-4 papers already for the PhD, and he wants me to start doing some preliminary data collection over the next few weeks. I'm thrilled but also slightly concerned because this seems to be moving so quickly and no one else in my lab moved this fast. Also, my advisor is wanting me to take my comps in January. January!! That seems quick too. So I guess I'm asking what are all your timelines (probably up to/including comps), either real or projected?

[Effloresce]

7 minutes ago, hippyscientist said:

Random question for you all (well, not ThAT random seeing as we're on a grad school forum but...anyway): have any of you already got your first paper/preliminary data to lead into the first paper planned out? I started 3 weeks ago and me and my advisor have decided on 3-4 papers already for the PhD, and he wants me to start doing some preliminary data collection over the next few weeks. I'm thrilled but also slightly concerned because this seems to be moving so quickly and no one else in my lab moved this fast. Also, my advisor is wanting me to take my comps in January. January!! That seems quick too. So I guess I'm asking what are all your timelines (probably up to/including comps), either real or projected?

nope! we don't declare thesis labs/departments until next april for my program.

also once we get into that department, it's around a year or so until the qualifying exam is. so i have about a year and a half until i actually meet with my real thesis advisor..

[jlt646]

1 hour ago, hippyscientist said:

Random question for you all (well, not ThAT random seeing as we're on a grad school forum but...anyway): have any of you already got your first paper/preliminary data to lead into the first paper planned out? I started 3 weeks ago and me and my advisor have decided on 3-4 papers already for the PhD, and he wants me to start doing some preliminary data collection over the next few weeks. I'm thrilled but also slightly concerned because this seems to be moving so quickly and no one else in my lab moved this fast. Also, my advisor is wanting me to take my comps in January. January!! That seems quick too. So I guess I'm asking what are all your timelines (probably up to/including comps), either real or projected?

My comps are after third semester. I have a focus, but it's not required at this point. That IS fast!!

[hippyscientist]

38 minutes ago, jlt646 said:

My comps are after third semester. I have a focus, but it's not required at this point. That IS fast!!

See, that's what I was anticipating. Taking them maybe beginning of Fall next year so I have summer to study, but my advisor came into the breakroom yesterday saying he'd just got an email from one of the guys in the lab with my comp questions from him already. He then said, so I assume you're taking them this semester. I had a heart attack!!! Then he said January, which isn't quite as crazy because I have christmas to study but still. QUICK! I'm not freaking out, I'm not freaking out.

[MarineBluePsy]

4 hours ago, hippyscientist said:

Random question for you all (well, not ThAT random seeing as we're on a grad school forum but...anyway): have any of you already got your first paper/preliminary data to lead into the first paper planned out? I started 3 weeks ago and me and my advisor have decided on 3-4 papers already for the PhD, and he wants me to start doing some preliminary data collection over the next few weeks. I'm thrilled but also slightly concerned because this seems to be moving so quickly and no one else in my lab moved this fast. Also, my advisor is wanting me to take my comps in January. January!! That seems quick too. So I guess I'm asking what are all your timelines (probably up to/including comps), either real or projected?

Well if you have a solid idea and are ready to start collecting data why wait?  In my lab it is common to just work on someone else's projects the first 2 years and then start your own stuff in year 3.  So basically the Master's thesis or project is derived from what you did for others in the lab.  Then years 3 through 4 or 5 you're doing your own stuff which will lead to your dissertation.  

Since my lab isn't really doing anything I've been fleshing out my own ideas and have stumbled upon something I want to get started on now.  If my advisor gets on board then I'll be right there with you, moving super fast lol.  In my case the alternative would be settling for being behind.

I'm guessing comps = comprehensive exams?  I won't take mine until year 3 so for now I'm pretending they don't exist lol.

[MarineBluePsy]

Ok anyone really good with Google Drive?  I use it to back up my files and previously I would just log in to my account and manually upload whatever I wanted to store in there which is a huge time suck.  A few months ago someone on here mentioned you can set up a Drive folder on your desktop and just drop in files there to later access whenever you log into Drive from somewhere else.  Great!  So I set one up, but now every time I log into Drive's website from somewhere else none of the files I dropped in my desktop folder are there, which was the whole point in backing them up there.  Is this how its supposed to work and I misunderstood or is there some setting I need to tinker with?

[Pink Fuzzy Bunny]

1 hour ago, MarineBluePsy said:

Ok anyone really good with Google Drive?  I use it to back up my files and previously I would just log in to my account and manually upload whatever I wanted to store in there which is a huge time suck.  A few months ago someone on here mentioned you can set up a Drive folder on your desktop and just drop in files there to later access whenever you log into Drive from somewhere else.  Great!  So I set one up, but now every time I log into Drive's website from somewhere else none of the files I dropped in my desktop folder are there, which was the whole point in backing them up there.  Is this how its supposed to work and I misunderstood or is there some setting I need to tinker with?

On the computer with the Drive folder, in the system tray (assuming it's a PC) you should see the Drive symbol. Hover over that with your mouse and you should see either "files synced" or "1 out of 29 files syncing" or something. That will help diagnose the problem

[Neist]

I use Drive a ton, but I never liked that functionality. I just drag and drop them. I dislike finicky things.

@hippyscientist That's nuts! If I do eventually go after a Ph.D., the comps are the part of the process I fear most. Although, I'm not sure what they're like in STEM fields. In the humanities, it's pretty much expected that you know a small library's worth of knowledge. 

[hippyscientist]

gah. I just upgraded my cable from basic to the next level up (mainly so I can watch football...) and none of my new channels are coming through. BUT I WANT TO WATCH THEM. This is infuriating me

 

[MarineBluePsy]

Am exhausted....put together the furniture I've bought so far.  Good grief my new mattress was so heavy and it hasn't even fully expanded!  I'm not supposed to be doing any heavy lifting as it is and now I ache and just want to lay it in, but it'll take 24 hours to fully expand.  *sigh*

Ugh there's still so many boxes to unpack and things to clean.  And I have piles of reading to do and papers to write.  Why isn't this weekend a 3 day weekend?

[Effloresce]

1 minute ago, MarineBluePsy said:

Am exhausted....put together the furniture I've bought so far.  Good grief my new mattress was so heavy and it hasn't even fully expanded!  I'm not supposed to be doing any heavy lifting as it is and now I ache and just want to lay it in, but it'll take 24 hours to fully expand.  *sigh*

Ugh there's still so many boxes to unpack and things to clean.  And I have piles of reading to do and papers to write.  Why isn't this weekend a 3 day weekend?

yay for unpacking! sorry you're not feeling so hot.

i feel you on the 3 day weekend thing though.

[pterosaur]

Are comps just another terms for quals? I have mine the end of 2nd year, but they're pretty different than most universities do for STEM, I think. We don't have a comprehensive written exam or interrogation. It's a presentation of the research we've done in the first 2 years basically to prove that we can do good research worthy of a thesis. It's apparently pretty low stress. But it does mean that we have to demonstrate knowledge by taking a bunch more classes (10, compared to 6 at MIT for example). I think I'm OK with that, except that I'm currently already in minor panic mode about how this machine learning class is going to go.

Also, I finally finished unpacking all the little odds and ends today as a form of procrastinating on a final read-through/edit of my masters thesis. (Now that I've gotten to it, I sound way less idiotic than I thought I would.)

[hippyscientist]

2 minutes ago, pterosaur said:

Are comps just another terms for quals? I have mine the end of 2nd year, but they're pretty different than most universities do for STEM, I think. We don't have a comprehensive written exam or interrogation. It's a presentation of the research we've done in the first 2 years basically to prove that we can do good research worthy of a thesis. It's apparently pretty low stress. But it does mean that we have to demonstrate knowledge by taking a bunch more classes (10, compared to 6 at MIT for example). I think I'm OK with that, except that I'm currently already in minor panic mode about how this machine learning class is going to go.

Also, I finally finished unpacking all the little odds and ends today as a form of procrastinating on a final read-through/edit of my masters thesis. (Now that I've gotten to it, I sound way less idiotic than I thought I would.)

So in my department comps are exams to prove you know enough to be doing a PhD, normally taken after year 1, and quals are to show you know enough to do your dissertation full time and normally taken end of year 2-3-4 depending on how youre getting on (effectively, I'm sure there's more nuance than that but whatever). 

Congrats on finishing your read through and unpacking! 

[janetjanejune]

Finally moved into my new town after a showcase of shit trying to get there. Everything from rude airport employees to missed flights to lost and found bags.

Good news is had dinner with my co-workers today. They seem like lovely people. Grad orientation starts tomorrow!